Exam papers – school and university, 1949-55

In the 1950s, the usual route for pupils at Edinburgh Academy who aspired to qualify as solicitors in Scotland, was to sit the Oxford and Cambridge Schools Examination Board School Certificate at age 16/17 and then to sit the Scottish Higher Leaving Certificate at age 17/18, in order to gain qualification for entrance to the University of Edinburgh for the combined degrees of Master of Arts and Bachelor of Laws. The first two years of the university course were full-time study, then students were simultaneously indentured to a firm of Edinburgh solicitors for the next three years. This involved attending university classes from 9 am until 10 or 11 am during term-time, working in the office until 4 pm or 5 pm, and then attending one or two further university classes. After three years, students graduated Master of Arts; after a further two years, they graduated Bachelor of Laws. Further details are available on this website under ‘Balfour+Manson history’ at pages 45-46. The following are the exam papers which Ian sat from 1949 to 1955. Looking at them, now he realizes how much he has forgotten over the intervening years – he certainly could not pass these papers now. The results for the Oxford and Cambridge Certificate are briefly noted at ‘1949, English Composition’, page 2.